for more on this, we turn to nbc pentagon correspondent, jim miklaszewski. jim, what is this all about? >> lester, this order today shocked u.s. defense and military officials, taken totally by surprise. military officials strongly deny u.s. commandos condone or took part in any kidnappings, torture or murders of afghan civilians or suspects. now, in the past, president karzai has taken the u.s. military to task, in part, to show the afghan people that he's in charge. but wardak province is a taliban stronghold, one of the hottest combat areas in afghanistan. so if karzai's playing politics here, it's an extremely dangerous game, lester. >> could this derail the planned 2014 withdrawal of the majority of troops, the schedule the administration is currently sticking with? >> well, people are already wondering that. president obama has already announced 34,000 troops. that's half the total american force will withdraw from afghanistan by the end of this year. but if u.s. forces are prevented from executing their missions, you may start to hear calls from here